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  • Obama travels to Turkey as allies' interests converge

    Monsters and Critics.com
    April 4 2009


    PREVIEW: Obama travels to Turkey as allies' interests converge
    Europe News


    By Christopher Wade Apr 4, 2009, 10:13 GMT

    Ankara - US President Barrack Obama arrives in Turkey Sunday night,
    fulfilling his pledge to visit a Muslim nation in his first 100 days
    in office, as the two-NATO allies work on rebuilding a relationship
    sorely tested by the 2004 US-led invasion of Iraq.

    During his talks with Turkish leaders in Ankara Monday - a visit that
    will include Obama making a speech to the Turkish parliament, then a
    tour of the ancient city of Istanbul Tuesday - Obama will seek to
    emphasise his administration's new approach to regional problems.

    High on the agenda will be discussions about withdrawing US troops
    from Iraq, stepping up reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and new
    US moves to engage Iran and Syria.

    'There is so much on the agenda of the new administration that has a
    Turkish dimension,' Suat Kiniklioglu, deputy head of the ruling
    Justice and Development Party's (AKP) Foreign Affairs Commission, told
    the German Press Agency dpa.

    'Anything from Afghanistan, to Pakistan to the Middle East Peace
    process, to energy security to Iran. All of these things have a strong
    Turkish component.'

    Of particular interest are Obama's attempts to engage to Iran and
    Syria. Just a few years ago Turkey was lambasted by the Bush
    administration for making overtures to Syria. Today, Washington is
    making tentative steps to engage a country that it has scorned as a
    state that sponsors terrorism.

    'These things aren't easy,' according to Taha Ozhan of the Turkish
    foreign policy think-tank SETA. 'Just 10 years ago, Turkey and Syria
    were almost at war,' he said, referring to Turkey's threat in 1998 to
    invade Syria which was at the time harbouring Kurdish separatist
    leader Abdullah Ocalan.

    Recent Turkish foreign policy of engagement now seems to be in step
    with US policy, but the potential for problems to emerge still exists.

    'Turkey and the US have have so many overlapping policies in
    overlapping regions,' Ozhan said. 'Of course this is positive but it
    is in exactly these overlapping plans that problems can emerge.'

    One of those problems that could emerge will be the plan to withdraw
    US troops from Iraq. Turkey has offered to facilitate the withdrawal
    but it is what the US leaves behind that has Turkey worried. An Iraq
    which is split would leave Turkey with a major foreign and domestic
    policy problem.

    'If a de facto Kurdish state in northern Iraq is established then this
    will seriously hurt US-Turkish relations,' said Ozhan.

    Turkey in particular fears that such a state would only inflame
    Kurdish separatist ideas in Turkey itself. Already Ankara is upset at
    the US failure to deal with the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) which
    uses northern Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks inside
    Turkey itself.

    Obama is expected to praise Turkey for its recent attempts to
    normalise relations with its neighbour Armenia - but here, too, there
    is the potential for US-Turkish relations to turn sour.

    During his presidential campaign Obama promised to recognize as
    genocide the killings of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians
    during the dieing days of the Ottoman Empire.

    No US president has actually used the word 'genocide' to describe the
    events of 1915, and Turkey will be watching closely to see if Obama
    keeps to his pledge.

    Turkey refuses to accept that the killings constitute a genocide,
    instead saying that there were massacres committed by both sides.

    'We shouldn't underestimate the potential of this to ruin the
    relationship,' said the AKP's Kiniklioglu. 'It would be extremely
    difficult for any Turkish prime minister not to react to such a
    statement.'

    During his visit Obama is sure to praise Turkey and to stress the
    importance of its role in the region. He will express his support for
    Turkey's bid to join the European Union and for human rights reforms
    that the government has implemented in recent years.

    During the Bush administration and the invasion of Iraq, Turkish- US
    relations hit rock bottom. Obama's visit is the first step to repair
    the relationship.

    Especially when it comes to regional foreign policy, Turkey once again
    feels that there is someone in the White House whose approach is the
    same as theirs.
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